Vuelta Stage 15: Alcalá la Real - Sierra Nevada (129.4 km)

[HelloDolly]

Astana : Fabio is still the captain ????

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re: Re:

Zakarin gets stronger as races progress. He can TT well. If he can stay upright (and that's a big if), he's a wildcard.

He is a wheelsucker. He will be happy with third place

Seems he was the only GC rider to come out from wheels to attack in the last couple K's..

Not to mention that he's been aggressive in week 3 of every GT he's ever entered. Though admittedly he's never been this far forward before the second rest day before.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

True - that's kind of what I meant. Lopez was the only one with the balls and the legs to take advantage. I bet there could be a couple of guys who finished in that main group wishing they had gone with the Contador/Lopez move. With someone like Zakarin or Kelderman working as well Froome could have been losing well over a minute.

:lol: Jesus man you've been spamming all over the forum how Froome is weak, how he is bluffing, now he again extends his GC lead and here you are back to the same old story. It's getting soo old.

He was clearly a lot weaker today than he was at the start of the race. He leant on his team the whole way today, and got comfortably outsprinted for bonus seconds. Plus he let a dangerous climber gain a minute on him.

He's probably got enough of an advantage to hold them off in the last week, but that's all he's doing now. He's leaning more and more on his team and trying to limit losses (good luck doing that on Angliru or Machucos) - not showboating and attacking like he was earlier in the race.

He leaned on his team in the Tour as well but still won. Looks like textbook Sky to me.

Sure, I agree he is still in control of this race. But he's undoubtedly getting weaker through this race. In fact, I'd say the first week of this Vuelta is the strongest he's looked all year. Right now he's looking how he did towards the end of the Tour - the one difference is that you can't rely on your teammates to bail you out on some of these climbs in the last week at the Vuelta.

If it was Lopez within a minute of him, rather than Nibali, he'd be in big trouble I think. But it's not, so he should be able to hang on.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Zakarin gets stronger as races progress. He can TT well. If he can stay upright (and that's a big if), he's a wildcard.

He is a wheelsucker. He will be happy with third place

Seems he was the only GC rider to come out from wheels to attack in the last couple K's..

Not to mention that he's been aggressive in week 3 of every GT he's ever entered. Though admittedly he's never been this far forward before the second rest day before.

Indeed.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

And Froome ahead of Trentin

 

[jaylew]

Re:

Astana : Fabio is still the captain ????

Yeah, saw that. They think Aru is about to come good in the final week but I'm not sure why.

 

[Descender]

Re:

Can't believe I wasted my afternoon on watching Froome watch his stem.

After all these years, he still tricks me into thinking there's something wrong with his chain and that's why he's looking down.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

And Froome ahead of Trentin

A real miracle :lol:

 

[bambino]

Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

 

[Eclipse]

Re: Re:

Zakarin gets stronger as races progress. He can TT well. If he can stay upright (and that's a big if), he's a wildcard.

He is a wheelsucker. He will be happy with third place

Seems he was the only GC rider to come out from wheels to attack in the last couple K's..

Not to mention that he's been aggressive in week 3 of every GT he's ever entered. Though admittedly he's never been this far forward before the second rest day before.

Agreed, he was solidly aggressive when he had his legs at the Giro and I'd expect him to be aggressive in the third week here too if the legs are there. Also I'll admit, I won't fault a younger rider for being more conservative when they are in the mix for the first big podium of their career. If it's a lifelong habit then it's going to turn me off but the difference between having that on your resumé and not is massive and I get why people don't want to gamble with it

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

He has a one minute lead over a multiple GT winner and 2-3 minutes over several other dangerous riders. With two of the hardest mountains ever done in pro cycling still to come, while his form is getting worse. I'd say he's concerned. A lot of pressure on him to put in a big time trial now.

 

[Zoophonic]

Re: Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

Nibs on a flattish but long TT? No threat IMO. Fatigue is Froome's biggest worry.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

He has a one minute lead over a multiple GT winner and 2-3 minutes over several other dangerous riders. With two of the hardest mountains ever done in pro cycling still to come, while his form is getting worse. I'd say he's concerned. A lot of pressure on him to put in a big time trial now.

The Angliru and ???

What's the other "hardest" mountain yet to come? Los Machucos?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Los Muchachos.. @Irondan

Did you miss this memo?

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

Nibs on a flattish but long TT? No threat IMO. Fatigue is Froome's biggest worry.

I thought I said Froome is probably not worried about anyone.

But if he would, Nibs would be #1, as he is closest to Froome. And will also be after TT.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Los Muchachos.. @Irondan

Did you miss this memo?

Nibali is awful in this type of climbs

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

True - that's kind of what I meant. Lopez was the only one with the balls and the legs to take advantage. I bet there could be a couple of guys who finished in that main group wishing they had gone with the Contador/Lopez move. With someone like Zakarin or Kelderman working as well Froome could have been losing well over a minute.

:lol: Jesus man you've been spamming all over the forum how Froome is weak, how he is bluffing, now he again extends his GC lead and here you are back to the same old story. It's getting soo old.

He was clearly a lot weaker today than he was at the start of the race. He leant on his team the whole way today, and got comfortably outsprinted for bonus seconds. Plus he let a dangerous climber gain a minute on him.

He's probably got enough of an advantage to hold them off in the last week, but that's all he's doing now. He's leaning more and more on his team and trying to limit losses (good luck doing that on Angliru or Machucos) - not showboating and attacking like he was earlier in the race.

He leaned on his team in the Tour as well but still won. Looks like textbook Sky to me.

Sure, I agree he is still in control of this race. But he's undoubtedly getting weaker through this race. In fact, I'd say the first week of this Vuelta is the strongest he's looked all year. Right now he's looking how he did towards the end of the Tour - the one difference is that you can't rely on your teammates to bail you out on some of these climbs in the last week at the Vuelta.

If it was Lopez within a minute of him, rather than Nibali, he'd be in big trouble I think. But it's not, so he should be able to hang on.

The TT is what Froome is waiting for to go 100% then he will go back to Sky train tactics. Nibali looks similar to his Giro form, good enough to make breaks but not good enough to hold a good gap. Lopez needs a decent TT to keep moving up but at this stage Lopez looks headed for the podium. Zakarin also needs a good TT. No one else is good enough at the moment. Maybe the fight for third will be close if Kelderman can continue to do well. Chaves will lose big time in the TT.

 

[Irondan]

Re:

Los Muchachos.. @Irondan

Did you miss this memo?

No, it's a brute for sure. I've just never heard it mentioned as one of the "hardest climbs in pro cycling". I'm not arguing that fact, I just didn't know.

You learn something new everyday.

 

[DFA123]

Re: Re:

How much time can Lopez gain on Froome on Angliru? I would say 2 minutes.

Not even remotely enough. He will be 5 min behind Froome after TT.

Lopez is not Froome's main worry. Currently I guess his biggest threads to mark are Nibs and Kelderman.

I don't actually think anyone worries Froome atm. The race seems over.

He has a one minute lead over a multiple GT winner and 2-3 minutes over several other dangerous riders. With two of the hardest mountains ever done in pro cycling still to come, while his form is getting worse. I'd say he's concerned. A lot of pressure on him to put in a big time trial now.

The Angliru and ???

What's the other "hardest" mountain yet to come?

There is Los Machucos (Collado Espina) the day after the TT. 7km averaging about 10%, but really irregular, with numerous stretches >25%.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Los Muchachos.. @Irondan

Did you miss this memo?

Nibali is awful in this type of climbs

26%... wtf?

Who isn't awful in climbs of this type...

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Struggling to work out the vuelta organisations reasons for the combativity prize. Surely Yates should have won today, and how did Mate win yesterday.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm starting to think that Froome's biggest worries are Contador creating a random ambush, or MAL taking off on La Cobertoria.

MAL was insane today. Took time out of Froome on the Monachil, then took time out of Froome while sharing work on half the Sierra Nevada and soloing the other half, whereas Froome didn't put his nose in the wins one bit.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re: Re:

Los Muchachos.. @Irondan

Did you miss this memo?

Nibali is awful in this type of climbs

I think it suits almost nobody of the top gc men. Zakarin and Kelderman are similar types who like normal gradients more.
I think Chaves and Lopez will have a field day with this. Froome in good form is good on these as well. Poels is a monster on good days on these too.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Problem is Machucos suits Froome perfectly

Compare it to Pena Cabarga

 

[Ricco']

I bet that Meintjes already knows by heart the bib numbers of all the riders in this year's Vuelta.